Gold Rush
by CRose
Summary: Ranma's time with the Diggers is over and it's time to return to Japan with his his mother. What will he make of the Tendo family and all the other weirdos after living in Atlanta for six months and surviving several adventures? Akane has a crush on who?


Note: This is the Golden Opportunity sequel.

Edit: Removed two prereader notes I accidentally left in and altered the descriptions I had of Thirty Eight and Six. Thanks to the reviewers that pointed out my mistakes. :P

oooooooooo  
Gold Rush  
Chapter 01  
Cory D. Rose  
(c) 2007  
oooooooooo

If there was one thing Ranma considered his best skill, other than Martial Arts, it would be mountain climbing. Now he was good at climbing the things, but he really didn't like mountains. They usually involved a lot of pain in one form or another. In the last ten years of his life, he could remember climbing six different mountains. Four of them in the last two years alone, and his old man forcing him to do each of them as some weird form of training. First was hauling half a ton of rock on his back to build strength, then came the free climbing adventure with the old fart throwing large boulders at him.

That one had been rather fun as he dodged, deflected, or ran on top of the things while trying to reach the top of the mountain. Genma always had something in mind for training. Ranma didn't like to think about the flaming arrows, he shuddered. Now though, here he was climbing another mountain. Sure this one was in the United States and Julia Diggers was running him through another type of training, but why did it always have to be mountains?

Bracing his feet against the rock, Ranma used his fingers to shatter the rock and form a new handhold. He let the rock fall several hundred feet down, where Gina was conducting an experiment. Ranma hadn't really been paying attention to her explanation when they arrived a few hours earlier. Something about Beta Tech, not that he cared, Julia had other ideas for bringing them out here.

"Oh yeah, work that ass."

Ranma sighed and looked down. It didn't help that he was only wearing a pair of tight shorts and boots as he climbed the sheer rock wall. One of Brianna's flying Peebos was recording the whole climb and it seemed to be staying about five feet below him repeating comments that Brianna made down below as she watched.

"Stop that." He snapped.

The Peebo suddenly emitted a strange gargling sound and some heavy panting. "Uhahahaha, tight shorts."

"Keep going Ranma, you're almost there!" Gina suddenly said.

He'd lost his shirt earlier when it became soaked in sweat he was forced to rip it off. Ranma wasn't sure where it landed, but the Peebo projected something that sounded like several girls fighting over the shirt when it landed on the ground. Shaking his head, he focused on the climb again and inched his way up another twenty feet.

Master Julia was already at the top. He wasn't sure how, but she had bounced up the side of the cliff as easily as walking. He was going to ask her to teach it to him. When he got to the top, and earned his reward. Julia had his lunch and was eating it. If he wanted any, he had to get up there and take it from her before she finished.

Calling her Genma probably hadn't helped either. The Peebo did a half circle around him for a few close up shots, before going back down again. He could hear it taking pictures. He nearly crushed his handhold as he heard Brianna comment about being able to see something in his sweat covered shorts. Brianna was as perverted as ever.

Now that he understood what she meant when she said those things he wasn't sure how to act. She used to confuse him, but now, he knew she wanted 'nookie'. Then there was Gina's perverted giggle. He felt like a hunted man. Gritting his teeth, he braced his feet and Ki jumped away from the wall. With a side flip he landed on a small out crop about ten feet to the right.

The Peebo emitted a scream.

It started to crumble almost instantly. Luckily he didn't plan to stay there. Reaching up, he grabbed a small crevice and pulled himself up. With a little more effort he reached the top of the cliff. He knew better than to roll over and rest too. He rolled forward as Julia launched a series of palm strikes at him. He shifted, dodged, and defended himself at lighting fast speed.

He barely noticed her long red hair flaring out around her as she moved. The defense quickly turned to offence as he made a series of finger jabs. They didn't even come close to touching Julia and she just ignored them. Even after nearly five months of training, Ranma could barely match her speed and didn't even come close to her skill.

Using his head, he pulled a flashy move, springing over her and landing a few feet behind her. He blocked a rather vicious kick that could have taken his head off. Focusing, he exploded in flurry of punches. Ranma knew in an instant that it was a bad idea. Julia shifted and suddenly he couldn't seem to make out what she was doing.

The air exploded from his lungs her small hand sent him flying. An eye blink later he landed on the ground about ten feet away and slid for a few more feet. He gasped for air and climbed to his feet. Julia was just smirking at him as she slowly relaxed. She brushed bit of hair out of her eyes.

"That was pathetic."

He just groaned. "Feh."

"You pull all that stuff on Jade and you can't even give me a two minute fight?" She huffed. "I expected better."

Pointing out that he just climbed a mountain didn't seem to be a good idea. Julia's punishments could be down right odd. So he just shrugged. "You caught me in a bad moment."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't say?"

He smirked. "I got my second wind now. Let's try this again."

Off to the side, the Peebo recorded the whole fight. Its programming made it focus mostly on Ranma and all his muscles as he fought. Gina and Brianna watched the whole fight from below. They were eating popcorn and panting a bit as they watched.

"How can that boy move like that?" Brianna asked, her eyes glued to the TV screen.

"I've seen him pull some wild moves, but nothing beats a sweat covered Ranma rolling around on the ground like that." Gina commented. She looked a little dazed.

"Well you two stop drooling over that guy and help out a little!" Penny Pincer growled as she walked by carrying a crate. "We did come out here for more than ogling the local beefcake."

"You just don't appreciate men." Brianna smirked.

"I have Ace, no one else compares."

Gina pointed at the TV. "I disagree."

Penny glanced down just in time to see Ranma pulling off an axe kick. She blushed a little and watched for several seconds. "I've seen better."

"Those two points in your shirt says other wise girl!" Brianna yelled as Penny walked away.

The sisters laughed. "Ranma never seems to give up. This thing is going to provide hours of fun." Gina said, her glasses started to fog up. "Whoa."

Julia pulled some kind of weird move and tossed something over the side of the cliff. Gina and Brianna tried to get a better look and moved to adjust the angle of the camera. Suddenly Ranma's shorts landed on Gina's head. She reached up, pulled off, and got a really weird grin on her face. "My Precious."

"Girl! Turn down the lust!" Brianna yelled as Gina got 'that' look again.

Gina started giggling. Even Penny, along with Charlotte looked up just in time to see Gina run across the camp and dive into her tent. Palming her face, Penny cursed for several seconds. "Now she won't be able to focus for at least an hour. Why do I always agree to come on these digs?"

oooooooooo

Now in just boots and underwear, Ranma sighed and wandered over to the edge and looked down. "Why did you go and do that?"

Julia laughed. "Gina bet me I wouldn't do it."

He whirled around in shock. "What?"

"Now don't act surprised. She is my daughter after all."

Ranma just grumbled. "Why do I have to suffer like this?"

Julia just laughed and tossed him a rather odd pair of shorts. "Put those on."

He held them up. "What the heck are these?"

"Biking shorts."

"These wouldn't ever fit me, they're way too small."

"They stretch."

"Why would I need a pair of stretchy shorts?"

Julia just smirked. "Leep Palm style is only taught to girls Ranma."

He backed up a few steps. "No way, I hate being in that form..." Water splashed across his chest, instantly turning Ranma into a red haired girl with large breasts. She sighed and looked down. "You have to be kidding me."

"You wanted to learn this. So you do it my way." Julia was very amused. "Now off with that underwear. Those shorts are skintight."

Ranma shuddered and lifted up her breasts. "And what about these?"

She glared at him. "What about them."

"Ah." She grumbled.

A few seconds later she had the shorts on and was retying her boots, which were now two sizes too big. Julia walked around her in a circle, as if examining her. "When I was being trained, I had to do this with nothing on at all. Learning this particular attack can take some time. If done wrong, it will shred loose clothing from the body. That's why you are wearing those shorts."

Ranma resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't believe a word of it. The girls were just playing another joke on her. That meant she would have to be extra careful now. Of course ignoring bouncing breasts was harder than it would seem. "What do I need to do?"

"I'm going to teach you how to use your Ki to stick to walls. If you use two little Ki you will fall. Now if you use too much then you will get stuck along with your clothes." She started cackling.

"I've seen old masters scale walls." She scoffed.

"Not like this." She said.

Ranma watched as she walked to the edge of the cliff and hopped over. She was sure that Julia wasn't doing anything dangerous, and he ran over to the edge to look down. The red headed Armsmaster was clinging to the side of the cliff with ease.

She looked up at him. "Now, do what I'm doing."

With that she seemed to almost flow down the side of the cliff for nearly fifty feet. Then she stopped, and shimmied back up even faster. She jumped the last ten feet and flipped over Ranma.

The Ki flow was the most complicated pattern she had ever seen. "What do I need to learn first?"

"The easiest way to learn it is to develop the proper ki trance." Julia explained. "I haven't taught you any of these yet. Have you heard of them before?"

Ranma nodded. "Pops called them a waste of time, but several of my instructors explained that a 'trance' was similar to mobile meditation. Or, the ability to stay in a meditation level of peace while fighting. I've got the basics of that down already."

"This will be more difficult than that. You have to master the proper focus so that you can control how much Ki you are using."

"That sounds like something that Dr. Diggers has been teaching me." Ranma said, thinking about some of her recent lessons with the aura mage.

"Your magic training just might help you out here. Ki is just another form of Magic after all."

Mentioning Dr. Diggers reminded Ranma of something and she closed her eyes and concentrated. Within seconds she was wearing the mage suit she got while on Jade. Over the last few weeks she had adapted it suit her style with Dr. Digger's guidance.

Instead of the plain one color suit she had originally, this one was personalized. Mostly red in color, there were black bands around her forearms and shins. She took a second to recall her lessons even as Julia was completing her explanation.

"Nice outfit, I was wondering if you would use it after I removed everything else."

"I nearly forgot about it." Ranma said as she bounced a few times. "Though it does have a few draw backs."

"True, I never did like wearing those things. Now quit stalling and lets see if you can pull off this technique."

Ranma nodded as she stepped to the side of the cliff and looked down. She drew on her Ki and knelt down to touch the cliff wall. Then off in the distance she could hear a helicopter. She ignored it as she felt that the technique was working and slowly started moving down the rock wall, head first.

oooooooooo

Ace flew the helicopter around several mountain peaks to keep his skills intact and have a little fun. He figured he was a few minutes away from the site where Penny and Gina set up their camp. They sure wanted a lot of supplies for what was supposed to bee a simple weeklong dig.

Of course he knew that Gina tended to bring everything she might need, even an extra set of batteries for the flashlights. Unless she was in a hurry, then she would forget the clothes off her back. Luckily, his girl Penny was there to keep Gina in line.

Then 'it' happened. He flew around another peak and found himself above a small rock shelf on the side of a cliff. It only took a second to recognize Gina's mother standing there looking up at him. His eye traveled across the shelf to where he was greeted by the sight the most perfect ass he'd ever seen in his life.

It was wiggling back and forth as the red headed girl started crawling down the rock face. She was wearing a skintight red outfit that hugged her curves in ways that caused his pulse to race. Gulping, he focused on thinking of Penny, and banked away from the cliff.

Sweating, he managed to spot the camp sight at the bottom of the cliff. Making an effort not to look a the girl wiggling around on the cliff, he came in for a landing as Penny waved him over towards a spot on the far side of the camp. He could see all the girls working on various projects.

Though Brianna appeared to be tied up. His landing was perfect as always. He slowly crawled out of his seat and headed back to his cargo. Penny pulled the cargo door open, jumped in, and dove into his arms with a little growl.

"Heya baby, I see you missed me."

She giggled and felt him up. "I see you missed me too."

He laughed nervously and decided that this would be a good time to make a move. The next several minutes seemed to blur before his eyes, but by the time they exited the helicopter, Penny was bouncing around and smiling, and Ace needed a nap. Of course he was smiling too as he helped to unload the supplies.

Charlotte ran by chasing a bug of some kind and giggling. He noticed that Penny was giving him 'that' look again. Groaning, he tried his best to distract her and hoped he could get his job done before she pounced on him again. Then a mess of blonde hair ran by trailing several ropes and one of Gina's gimmick guns.

"What the heck?" He muttered as Brianna started laughing in a rather disturbing way.

"Give that back!" Gina yelled. "The water gun is not a toy!"

"I want my Ranma back." Brianna yelled.

"He's training." Gina yelled.

"He needs some hot water."

"Give that back!"

Brianna cackled. "You just want to take credit for my idea!"

After that they chased each other around the camp. Penny sighed as she stepped up to him. "They've been arguing about Ranma ever since they arrived."

"Ranma? Where is he?"

Penny blinked and pointed up to the rock shelf he spotted earlier. "Up there, training."

"There's just Julia and some other girl up there."

"Did you get a good look at them?"

He started to sweat again. "Well, I spotted Julia Diggers, but I didn't get a good look at the other girl."

"That was Ranma."

"Ranma's a guy." He pointed out.

"Ranma can transform into a girl." Penny snapped, her eyes narrowing.

"Could it have been his sister Ranko? She was at that party a few weeks back."

Penny sighed. "Ace, you really have to pay more attention to the people around you."

He just laughed and pulled her closer. Time to distract her again. She giggled as his hands wandered under her shirt. Then she wiggled around and moved away. "Ah."

"Let's finish unloading first."

"I don't think Gina or Brianna will notice that we're gone for some time." He said and grinned as he started to pull her close again. They kissed for several seconds.

Purring, Penny quickly got into it and was soon hugging him and trying to pull his t-shirt off. Ace chuckled as his plan worked, but then the romance wrecker appeared. A pair of arms enveloped both of them and lifted them off the ground. Charlotte giggled as she spun them around.

"I want to play too!"

Penny suddenly looked horrified and her arm shot out and shoved something under Charlotte's nose. The winged girl's eyes went wide as she smelled the extra large sized bag of shelled peanuts. Her eyes went glassy as Penny shook the bag. Charlotte let them go as she stared at the bag. "Oooh."

"Want them?"

"PeanutsPeanutsPeanuts!"

Penny tossed them into the air and Charlotte spread her wings to fly after them in an instant. She caught the bag fifteen feet in the air and flew off to eat them. Ace just watched as the girl flew up the cliff and perched on a ledge. Penny just shrugged.

"She loves the things." Penny explained, turned around, and dragged Ace back to the Helicopter. "Now, where were we?"

He smirked. "Having some fun."

"I have a few ideas."

"Do you?"

She giggled.

oooooooooo

Gina walked away from a bound and gagged Brianna and couldn't help laughing evilly. She loosened a button on her shirt to reveal a bit more cleavage and made sure everything else was in place. Once she was ready she looked around for Penny and noticed for the first time that she wasn't around. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced in the direction of the Helicopter.

"And she was complaining that Brianna and I weren't being serious enough." She muttered to herself. A moan was heard from the helicopter. Gina nodded as she picked up her water gun and smirked. Penny just needed the right kind of stimulus to show her true colors.

Looking up the mountain, she quickly spotted a spot of red about five hundred feet up. It was moving across the cliff face with ease. Tapping the rim of her glasses activated the mini computer and she quickly focused in on Ranma. He was still in his girl form alright.

Brianna's idea was a good one. Neither of them wanted a female Ranma running around, they weren't interested in girls, they wanted Ranma's buff body back. Those tight bulging muscles that moved around just under the skin to drive her made with desire. It didn't help that it appeared that Ranma was topless. She blinked a few times before shrugging. The water gun didn't have the pressure to hit a moving target at five hundred feet anyway.

She would have to get a little closer. She ignored the tiny voice in the back of her mind trying to remind her that she was here for a reason. Then she noticed something, the water gun's power cell was missing. "Hey!"

Spinning around, she spotted Brianna worming her way towards the tent. She had the power cell in her teeth and grinning. Brianna made it to her tent before Gina could run over, she wasn't as athletic as Brianna. Seconds later Brianna rolled out, cackled, and broke into a run.

Sighing, Gina watched the half werecheetah race into the distance. It was hard to tell what she took from the tent though. Brianna tended to have some rather strange stuff with her. She took a second to see where Ranma was and ran back over to the TV. The Peebo was still recording Ranma as she worked her way across the rock face. To Gina, Ranma appeared to be moving like a gecko, twisting and crawling all over the place.

She didn't have any way to get any hot water to Ranma now and the jerk didn't seem to care what form he took. He could transform back and forth at will with just a little bit of magic. She stamped her foot. Why wasn't he doing it? She didn't want to look at 'her' bare chest. "Ranma will have to make up for this even if Brianna catches up first.

Then she heard another moan in the background. Penny was still having fun in the helicopter. She shrugged and walked over to the crates of equipment and started to unpack them. It only took her about twenty minutes to set up her computer tables and control boards.

Designing them for easy transport and set up had saved her tons of time and effort on these trips. Even if she was Ranma ogling, she still had work to do, and she could do both at once. Giggling, she fired up the computer and let it start scanning the whole mountain.

All her sources pointed to something being here. She was hoping for a good find this time. She hadn't had one in a while. Even the Island Ship hadn't gotten her as much as she would have liked. A room full of gems and treasure would be great.

She would just have to remember to keep one thing in mind. The crates were only a few yards from the helicopter and Gina really didn't want to hear Penny going at it again. Watching Ranma all morning wasn't a good way to keep her needs under control. That led her to think of another subject.

Ranma's mother was back in Atlanta with Dr. Diggers waiting for them to return and getting a chance to meet more of the family. Of course Ranma wasn't sure what to do about her as well. He hadn't hesitated to accept a short weekend training trip with them to the mountains to get away from the woman.

oooooooooo

He wasn't sure how long he'd been in the Earth Realm with his two wives tagging along like a pair of leeches. Just that he wanted to kill them with his bare hands. Really. They annoyed him more than anything he'd ever encountered before. They stank, their voices annoyed him, and he was forced to do things like a commoner just because they weren't true dragons. Just females, Humph!

On the other hand, they made good pack animals and would do anything he told them. Sighing, Fauntleroy glanced over his shoulder at his two wives, number Six and Thirty Eight. Both of them were loaded down with supplies and it wasn't like he was going to help them. He was the man, it was their job to serve him after all. He growled under his breath as he moved around another overgrown bush, as if he was some uneducated bore.

If only he wasn't locked into this stupid human shell. Those wizards were going to pay for their crimes against him when he managed to get his true body back. He brushed some hair out of his eyes and considered the path ahead. He was sure that there was a lair around somewhere in all this rock and tree infested filth. He just needed to sense what he was looking for.

As far as he could figure, he would need to be within a couple of miles of the place before he could even begin to sense what he was looking for. Behind him the girls started to argue again. They just never knew when to shut up and stop bothering him when he was working on something, did they? Maybe he should throw one off the cliff that was just ahead.

"Hurry it up!" He commanded and smirked a little.

"Yes sir!" The two girls chorused and quickly bounced their way up to him.

He sniffed arrogantly and continued to move up the hill where he could see a small clearing in the trees just ahead. Brushing a lock of hair out of his eyes again, he concentrated a little harder and was finally rewarded for his determination. The girls wouldn't die this day after all. He would need them to do the drudge work.

There was something magical in the area, but it wasn't draconian magic, he wasn't to sure what it was. It was more like chaos magic. That wasn't a common type of magic, even on Jade. In fact, it was almost unheard of. Frowning, he topped the hill and found himself looking across a chasm of stone. Number Six and Thirty Eight looked over his shoulder and groaned.

"Where to now?" Thirty Eight asked. Her long dark hair flowed around her.

"There are humans here." Six said. "I can smell them."

Fauntleroy lazily raised his arm and pointed. "Down there...wormlings."

Six could see a couple of humans fighting each other on a small cliff shelf. She figured they were about two hundred yards away from them. She adjusted her oversize pack and glanced at her mate. Her red and yellow clothing stood out against her dark skin. Beside her, Thirty Eight felt a breeze blowing her long deep purple nearly black hair.

She was getting a little tired of putting up with Fauntleroy's attitude lately. He promised to transform them from mere wormlings into true Dragons when he got his power back. All they had to do was stay with him until he broke his curse. "Sire, I sense something I've never encountered before."

"That would be Chaos Magic. Be wary of where you step from now on, chaos magic effects how things work. Making the impossible easy to accomplish. Even wizards speak of it in whispers and shivers of fear. Fireballs turn to slime in mid air, dragon breath can become mouthwash, anything can happen." He appeared to be talking more to himself than Thirty Eight, but she didn't call him on it.

"Six, scout ahead to find any dangers." He ordered.

"Of course Sire." Six chirped and ran ahead of them.

Fauntleroy tried not to sigh in annoyance as she headed down a nearby trail that looked like it might take them down the cliff a ways. A strange scent came to him and he looked behind to see a winged girl fly by with a large bag in her hands. He motioned for Thirty Eight to follow him back into the trees so the winged girl wouldn't see them.

He wasn't quite sure what species she might be. She closely resembled a harpy, but they were uglier than trolls and smelled ten times as bad. This girl's wings were clean and well kept and the air around her wasn't full of rancid filth and disease. Back on Jade he would have fired his breath weapon at her, but he couldn't do that stuck in this pathetic human form.

So why was Thirty Eight pressing herself against him in that way? What the heck was touching his back that felt like a pair of pillows? "Back off." He snapped.

She moved back a couple of steps. "Sorry."

He growled, oh how these wormlings annoyed him. Sneering, he wiped some imaginary dust off the shoulder of his coat and watched her. She looked nervous for some reason and had a faint red color to her cheeks that he found vaguely appealing. This was the true horror of being stuck in human form. Their corruption went far deeper than even he suspected.

Shuddering, he stalked after Six as fast as his legs could take him. He didn't even look back at Thirty Eight as he moved. He didn't really care if she followed him or not. Something about the fake harpy worried him and he wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if the stupid thing was dangerous in anyway. Either of his wives could take the thing down without even transforming into their wingless wormling forms.

The answer was right on the tip of his weak human tongue.

oooooooooo

"That's enough for today Ranma." Julia said as Ranma stood upside down from a fifty foot overhang.

He grinned. "This isn't so tough."

"Well that is just the first level to the technique. There are three more versions that you need to learn eventually."

"Then lets do them now." He said as he walked perpendicular to the ground until it was safe to jump off and land on the ground a few feet from Julia.

"The other forms take a few week so of training, each, to master and you just don't have time to learn them. You are heading to Japan here in two weeks."

Ranma looked like she was going to protest.

"You promised your mother you would go home with her."

She sighed and nodded. "I won't break a promise to her."

Julia nodded. "Now let's get down to the camp and see how Gina is doing. You have to help her out with this current search of hers."

They walked to the edge, looked down, and with a surge of energy, the two of them were running down the face of the sheer cliff as if it was a flat road. Ranma was quite a site in her skin tight mage suit, but Julia started to steadily pull away as they got closer to the ground. As they neared the bottom, trees started to take on more definition.

Seconds later they were tree hopping towards the camp, moving so fast that their forms were blurry, and hard to follow. Julia raced into camp, around the helicopter, and over to the tent. Ranma was barley half a second behind her and slid to a stop a few feet from the Gina mobile. "That was a good cool down."

"Go get dressed, then we can grab some food and see where Gina got to." She couldn't see anyone moving around the camp. That was a bit unusual. At the very least Brianna should have been around somewhere.

Ranma concentrated for a second and suddenly transformed back into a man. As was his habit, he gave his arms a little flex to feel his muscles stretch. He dug a bag out of the car and was soon dressed in a skin tight black and silver shirt, loose pants, and his usual slippers. Dodging to the side, he avoided a rock without thinking about it.

Julia sent a few more his way. He managed to dodge all of them with ease. "Very good."

"I'm the best."

"You're getting there. Maybe another five to ten years of training." She smirked evilly.

"Hey!"

"I'll see you in a week or so, enjoy your vacation." She said and pulled a small scroll from her shirt. held it up, and said a strange word that Ranma couldn't understand. She vanished in a burst of light.

It took a second for him to figure out what she said. Dr. Diggers used an ancient form of language on his magical scrolls. Ranma still couldn't read it with much accuracy since most of his magic was a focused burst of power that he had to control. The spoken parts of magic, the gestures, and special requirements tended to just confuse him because they were useless most of the time.

Ranma figured he would learn it eventually. For now his time with the Diggers was almost up and he wanted to enjoy this last adventure. Now were was Gina? He closed his eyes and scanned the area for several seconds. Glancing at the Helicopter, he blushed to the roots of his hair and decided that wasn't going near that thing for a little while.

He could sense that Gina was nearby, just over the hill working on something. His eyes focused on a nearby ridge about half a mile away and he frowned. There was something powerful up there that was setting off his danger sense, and yet it wasn't directed at him, but at someone else. The danger was indistinct as well.

"It's always something with these trips." He muttered.

oooooooooo

Stalking through the trees would be a lot easier if she wasn't in red and yellow clothing, at least her skin was dark enough to help blend in a little. Six thought as she peaked around a large rock to spy on the winged harpy thing. She was good enough hide herself so that she wasn't discovered instantly, but she was still red and yellow. It wasn't exactly the natural color of all the rock and trees surrounding her.

Good thing she was in her humanoid form. It was easier to hide in. So far she hadn't found anything dangerous and didn't want to report back to her husband/master until she was sure things were safe. Even if he was using her to set off any traps they might run into. The harpy girl was perched on a small rock overlooking another wooded valley.

She could see several caves and waterfalls down below. They were just peaking out of a rather dense forest. That was about all she could tell though. It was to far away to really get a good read on it. She would have to head down and check it out before she headed back. Sighing, she glanced back at the girl.

"Eeeep!"

Charlotte was on the rock beside her, looking down at her curiously. "Who are you?"

Six scrambled back several feet before calming down. Her eyes glowed as she started to channel some draconian magic. Crouching down, she shifted into her wormling form, a thirty foot red and yellow lizard, and hissed at the girl.

Instead of being scared, Charlotte leaned forward with wide eyes and grinned. "Oooh! How cute!" Clapping her hands, she stepped off the rock and flapped her wings to maintain her balance. She stuffed another handful of peanuts in her mouth and walked forward. "That is so cool."

"Back off human or I'll kill you."

Charlotte didn't seem to hear the threat as she reached Six and started to rub the top of her head. "You're soft!" She giggled.

Six shivered. How in the world had the human known just where to touch her head? She should pull away, but the hand felt so good. She ruffled her wings and crooned, letting her tongue hang out, and her eyes started to roll around. "Oh, right there." She moaned.

Giggling some more, Charlotte tried out several more spots that seemed to turn the lizard into putty. Six almost rolled onto her back and started to flick her tail, almost. Shivering, she managed to pull away after a couple of minutes. Charlotte laughed and clapped her hands. "Want some of my peanuts?"

"What are peanuts?"

"Delicious."

She hadn't eaten in a couple of days and Fauntleroy wasn't about to offer her any of his food. That meant she usually had to hunt it down herself. At least Thirty Eight was willing to share when she caught something big. Cautiously she shifted back into her human form and edged forward. "Sure."

Bouncing happily, Charlotte gave her a handful and demonstrated how to eat them by stuffing her mouth full and swallowing them whole. She didn't even seem to think it was odd that Six could shift forms. Instead she just poured a bunch of peanuts into the girl's hand.

Number Six cautiously took a peanut and put it in her mouth. She gasped as the salt hit her taste buds. Tossing all the peanuts in her mouth, she started to suck the salt of them with every thing she had. She almost started moaning in pleasure, but she had to retain some pride.

"Oh my god." She gasped.

Charlotte just nodded. "I can never get enough of these things."

oooooooooo

"Heya Gina." Ranma said as he walked over to the girl as she made some adjustments on a portable computer.

She looked up. "Can you hand me that three eighths spanner join."

Ranma glanced down at a fishing box full of weird looking tools. "Ah? The what?"

"The spanner."

"Got no clue what that is cute stuff."

Gina squeaked and gave him a giant grin. "That red handled thing there."

He handed it to her.

"The other red handled thing." Gina said and tossed the screw driver back.

"Ah." Ranma said and handed her the device.

"Thank you." She said absently, turned around, and practically shoved her ass in his face. It started wiggling back and forth.

Gulping, Ranma edged round the amorous girl. While he wasn't as nervous as he used to be, or clueless, he wasn't as overt as the girls seemed to be. Shaking his head, he gave her computer a look. "Are these magic symbols?"

"Yep, I recognize them from when daddy was trying to teach me about magic."

"You know magic?" He asked in surprise.

Gina shook her head. "I couldn't even figure out the easiest spells. No matter how hard I tried. He eventually handed me a tech manual and said that maybe my talents lay in other areas." Gina giggled.

Ginning, Ranma felt his eyes pulled to the ridge again. "Are we expecting anyone to show up?"

"No one else, except Ace, and he's entertaining Penny right now." Gina muttered.

"Well I'm sensing something over by that ridge that might be dangerous." Ranma explained and pointed. "Any idea who might be lurking over there?"

"Nope." She eyed the ridge and pulled out a small device. "Hmm, there is something strong over there. These readings are familiar too, but where have I seen them before?" She muttered to herself.

"There's magic at work too, but that's at the edges of my senses." Ranma said. "Maybe I should have asked Master Julia to stick around."

"Naw, Mom rarely gets involved in these things. If someone is up there we can handle it easily enough." Gina said and gave him cute smile.

Ranma tried not to noticed that naughty twinkle in her eye as she arched back a tiny bit to give him a better view down her shirt. "I doubt that will hold him off for long." He teased.

She just laughed. "You're learning at least. Stupid Ryan just takes everything at face value."

"He's your boyfriend."

Gina sighed. "Me and Ryan are probably through. I've been ignoring him lately and he isn't taking it well."

"Why?"

"He's mad for some reason." She shrugged.

"About what?"

"It started right after you beat him up a few weeks back. Right before the trip to the Amazon Village in China. He hasn't been the same since."

Ranma frowned for a second and recalled overhearing something about Gina chasing Ryan around his house so Gina could have her way with him again and again and again. He hid a smirk and realized that Ryan might have been the one avoiding Gina, not the other way around. "That's too bad."

Gina shrugged and looked at her remote again. "I just finished a second more in-depth scan of the ridge. "I'm picking up Draconian energies up there."

"What?"

The blonde nodded and adjusted her glasses. "I haven't encountered anything like these readings since I stumbled across Dreadwing a few years back. These aren't on his scale, but still powerful."

"I'll go check it out." Ranma said. "I should be able to handle this."

"Dragons are powerful and I'm not entirely sure this is one. The reading just isn't like what I remember."

Ranma shrugged. "Lets find out. I could use a work out anyway."

Suddenly Gina moved over to him, grabbed his had, and pulled him down for a kiss. He froze up and felt her tongue in his mouth. She let him go with a naughty look and rubbed grabbed his backside. "I think I want you to come back and 'talk' some more."

"Gah." Ranma said.

"I'll see you when you get back. Call if it's something too big for you to handle."

"Yah." Ranma muttered as he staggered off.

Gina just moved back to her computer. "I'll never figure out why men can't take a hint." She muttered under her breath. Just knowing what Ace was currently doing to Penny was driving her nuts too. Adjusting her shorts, she sat down and started running some more scans of the rock around her. She was close to finding the entrance, she knew it was just a matter of time.

Images of Ranma's backside danced in her head. Wiggle. Wiggle.

Giggle.

oooooooooo

Using the technique he just learned, Ranma ran the half mile to the cliff face and just crawled up the wall in just a few minutes. He barely felt the drain on his Ki reserves. Once at the top he noticed that he could sense things a little better now that he was closer.

Glancing around, he couldn't see anything out of place, but he knew he was a lot closer. Luckily there were quite a few trees so he could use them for cover. It was easy enough to follow his senses. After years of practice he was quite good at it.

He moved deeper into the trees and soon found a large tree to climb. A couple of hops and he was overlooking the whole area. He could just make out the camp down below, Gina tinkering with something, and in the opposite direction a surprise. Charlotte was sitting down talking to a girl with brown hair, a red shirt and yellow pants.

The girl was a complete unknown. Whoever she was, she appeared to be nice enough since both girls were laughing and eating something. Hopping to the ground, he jumped from tree to tree until he was close to the where the girls were sitting. He landed silently and watched them for a few seconds.

They were eating something from a bag. "Charlotte."

The girl jumped and spun around with wide eyes, her wings spread out as she almost took to the air. The other girl ducked down behind the rock and glared at him. Ranma eyed her as he walked forward. "Have you spotted anything weird over here?"

"No." Charlotte said. "Why?"

"Gina was picking up something on her scanners." He half explained. There was something about the other girl that was warning him to be careful.

"The only person I've met out here is Six here." Charlotte said and happily pointed at her friend.

"Six?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I'm going to head up the trail here and see what I find. Gina was detecting something with Dragon energy..."

Six gasped in shock.

Ranma eyed her again. He could tell that she wasn't human, but it was a vague feeling. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay Ranma, have fun." Charlotte said and bounced. "Is Penny in danger?"

He shrugged. "She might be, she's a bit distracted right now." Ranma really didn't want to think about why a helicopter would be rocking back and for like that. He headed up a slight trail and let his senses guide him. The rarely led him wrong.

Behind him, Charlotte wondered if she should go and check on her friend. She was supposed to protect her after all. Six remembered why she was here in the first place and remembered her Master's orders. They both sighed at the same time, reached for some peanuts, and started eating again.

Ranma on the other hand was getting worried. His danger sense was going off like a fog horn now. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up and he knew something dangerous was nearby. Even the usual forest sounds were completely silent. No birds calling, no bugs to be seen, as if the world was waiting for something to happen.

"I can sense you." He called out and heard a quiet gasp. "Come out."

"I don't think so monkey." A cold aristocratic voice called out.

It was impossible to tell where it came from. Ranma formed a ball of Ki in his hand and spread his senses out a little further. "We can talk this out if you want."

"I'd rather kill you and eat you for dinner. Monkeys are a rare treat for me." The voice said, it was amused.

Ranma smirked. "You don't have the balls."

Suddenly a dark blur was in front of him so fast that he barely had time to even realize that it was there. His cheek exploded into pain and he crashed to ground with a grunt. He looked up to see a rather cute girl with long black hair staring down at him and huffing for air. Her clothing was rather revealing, but hid just enough to be presentable. Of course she had a cute belly button too, but that was a voice in the back of his mind commenting on things.

"Well hello there." He said with a grin. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Number Thirty Eight." She growled. "You will not insult the master that way! Or I'll kill you where you stand."

A rather large man wearing a long white coat over a bare chest stepped out from behind a tree. Ranma could tell just from watching him move that the man was full of himself. "I think I'll let my wife take care of you little monkey, you aren't worth my time if she can take you down."

For a second Ranma saw a red glaze fill his vision, but he remembered his vow and regained control. There was no way this guy was going to walk away now. That was a challenge. He rolled to his feet and eyed the girl. Now that he had a better look at her he could tell that she wasn't human either. The guy was radiating quite a bit of power as well.

"Attacking me from ambush won't work coward. Leave this area, I won't let you hurt anyone here."

The man laughed. "You don't have the authority to order me around primate. Thirty Eight, rip his spine from his body."

She smirked evilly. "Yes Master."

Ranma felt his danger sense start screaming and he knew this would be an interesting fight. Then the girl started to shift and grow. Within in the blink of an eye she became a giant dark purple lizard, though it didn't have wings. It lifted it's neck nearly ten feet above him and roared. He could feel a wave of magic rippling from her as she changed, brought her head around, opened her mouth, and a wave of fire spewed from her mouth.

His mind raced through several attack patterns in an instant. At the same time he smirked a little, he was looking for a fight, and this would do just fine. He'd worry about who they were later. Right now he had and ass to kick and a jerk to knock down a few pegs.

Moving at the female shocked her. She only set some trees on fire and roared as Ranma slammed his palm into what would be her chest. Leep Palm Martial arts was designed as a series of shock attacks that could break any one's defenses. Master Julia had refined it quite a bit over the years, even after she learned the Ultimate Technique: Renewing Breath.

Thirty Eight felt as if a cannon had hit her chest practically caved in around the monkey's hand. Then all that momentum rippled through her body and sent her into the air. She roared in shock just before she crashed into a tree. She collapsed to the ground and fell over onto her back, out cold.

Fauntleroy watched in mild surprise as the useless female lay there for several seconds. "Interesting." He didn't sound all that concerned to Ranma. "Even a wormling should be able to take down a pathetic human."

"I suppose you're next prick." Ranma said as he shook his numb hand. He wasn't about to admit that he hit her at a slightly wrong angle. No need to admit faults to an enemy.

"I will not sully my royal hands fighting a baboon." Fauntleroy sneered. "Six!"

Ranma wasn't to surprised to hear someone 'eep' and come out of the bushes behind the man. The same girl from before. He couldn't sense her either, that was interesting. He would have to find out why. She edged over to the man.

"Sire?"

"Kill the hairless ape."

She glanced at Ranma and nodded. "Yes Master."

To Ranma's surprise she shifted into a dragon slightly larger than the other girl. She had deep red scales and several spikes on her tail. Ranma didn't feel like giving her a chance to attack first. For some reason she didn't have wings either, but he wasn't in the mood to let her lead the attack this time. He brought his hand forward and made a series of gestures. His eyes glowed as a beam of magic fired from his hand and engulfed the red dragon.

Fauntleroy gaped as Six screamed and shifted back into human form. She collapsed to the ground and twitched. Ethereal smoke rose from her body as she lay there. Ranma gave a silent sigh as he lowered his arm. The girl wouldn't be a danger to anyone for the next day or so.

"She won't be able to transform back for a couple of days. Now lets end this mess."

"I told you not to order me around primate." Fauntleroy growled. "It seems I'll have to get my hands dirty after all. What a bother."

Even though Fauntleroy looked human, he wasn't anything of the kind. Ranma could sense this as well, but Fauntleroy was a true Dragon. While cursed to be a human while on Earth he still had a number of Dragon like traits. Fauntleroy shrugged off his long white coat and flexed his muscles.

Ranma could feel something change in the environment. The two girls hadn't been much of a challenge, but maybe the guy wasn't bragging after all. Hanging around With Gina was a good way to meet these strong fighters and improve his skills. "I doubt you can do much better than the girls. After all you make them fight for you."

This just made Fauntleroy chuckle a little. "They fight the fleas while I keep my hands clean."

"Yeah right." Ranma snorted.

Fauntleroy growled deep in his throat as he casually reached out and slammed his fingers into the side of a tree. Bark and wood chips crumbled under his fingers and with a heave shattered the tree trunk. Ranma was mildly impressed as he swung the tree around like a giant club.

"Die Monkey!" Fauntleroy yelled.

The tree came around and Ranma hopped up on the trunk and ran at Fauntleroy. He slammed his foot into the guy's face. Ranma flipped to the side to got ready for a follow up attack. Fauntleroy staggered back with a yell. He dropped the tree and held his face.

"You'll pay for that." He growled.

"Feh." Ranma muttered. "My old man puts up a better fight."

Losing his temper, Fauntleroy raced forward and threw several punches at Ranma. He ducked and took a second to punch him in his exposed gut. It didn't even faze Fauntleroy as the guy brought both fists down on Ranma's shoulders. Ranma collapsed to the ground.

Pain exploded out from his shoulders. "What?"

"Your puny human strength is no match for me ape man." Fauntleroy gloated and flexed his fists. "I will rip your limbs off one by one."

Ranma rolled to his feet and reconsidered the fight. "My punch should have affected you in some way."

"Bah, I'm twenty time stronger than any pathetic human. Now prepare to die."

Out of the corner of Ranma's eye he spotted Charlotte sneaking over to Six and examining her. He still didn't know the girl that well, but he knew she was a decent judge of character. She even frowned a little at Fauntleroy as the man ranted.

Ranma crouched down and formed a ball of Ki in between his hands. He let a little of his strength out as well. Charlotte might be hurt if he didn't act fast and he didn't want Penny to get mad at him. "All right then."

Fauntleroy suddenly paled and backed several paces. "What is this?"

"I'll kick your ass, that's what." Ranma snapped.

"No human has that Power! Where did you learn to harness it?" Fauntleroy yelled.

One could hear a hint of fear in Fauntleroy voice now. Ranma wasn't sure why either. Instead he just smiled a little and let the sphere grow a little more. His aura started to kick up a little dust as he crouched there. "I've been training to use Ki all my life."

"Not that you idiot. The Spellfire! Where did you learn to harness it?"

"Its just Ki."

Suddenly Thirty Eight crawled up to Fauntleroy. "Master, we can't stay here. We aren't ready for this."

The arrogant man nodded. "For once we agree. Grab Six and let's get out of here."

"You're not going anywhere." Ranma growled.

Thirty Eight was already picking Six up in her arms and moving to Fauntleroy's side. The man growled as he retrieved his jacket and reached in to an inner pocket. "We will meet again ape man and you will not like what happens then."

All three of them vanished in a burst of light. Ranma nearly threw his ball of Ki, but decided to shift position first. By the time the light died down they weren't there anymore. Ranma realized that they must have just teleported in some way. He sighed and let the ball of Ki dissipate.

"Where did they go?" Charlotte asked. She started looking under bushes.

"I think they left the area." Ranma said. He couldn't sense them no matter how far he reached out.

"He took my friend." She said.

Ranma just nodded. "Let's get back to camp."

"I'll carry you!" Charlotte yelled, spread her wings, and suddenly grabbed him under his arms.

"What?" Was all he had time to say, before they were about a hundred feet in the air and out over the cliff.

He didn't mind heights, so long as he was the one controlling the height. This was a wholly new experience for him. Before he could say anything Charlotte had them back at the camp site. She giggled as she sat him down near the fire. She circled around a few more times before landing.

"Where's Penny?"

"She was busy the last time I was here."

"Oh yeah, she's in the helicopter."

Whatever Penny was going in the machine, he could sense that it was escalating rather quickly. "She might be in the middle of something."

Charlotte nodded. "I'll just let her know we're back."

Before he could say anything else the winged girl was inside the chopper. All was quiet for a few seconds, then the girl dove out of chopper. Ranma could tell that she was blushing quite a bit. She ran over and hid behind Ranma and started gasping for air.

"Problem?"

"She's p-p-procreating!"

"Ah." Ranma nodded.

"Babies!"

Charlotte suddenly stiffened up and fell over in a faint. He sighed and made sure she was comfortable. Once that was done he looked around the camp. He suddenly had a thought. Where the heck was Brianna during all this?

oooooooooo

Brianna rubbed her eyes as she sat up and stretched. She didn't recall falling asleep. Glancing around proved to be a bad idea. She was on a small sand pile in the middle of a rather large river. As she moved she quickly noticed that her top was gone and that her hair was a complete mess.

Parts of her body hurt as well. Parts that shouldn't hurt unless she's was playing with Genn. She found that she was laying on a thick branch. Glancing up, she spotted most of her shirt hanging from a tree branch about ten feet above her. It was ripped to shreds and waving in the wind like a flag.

She slowly got to her feet and glanced around. There was white water all around her. The little island was about twenty feet long and only a few feet wide. She was lucky to have landed on it. A flash of memory made her look at the other side of the river and the thick covering of trees there.

It was almost impossible to find a spot where she could cross to dry land. Behind the trees she could make out the cliff that dominated the area. From what she could tell, she was several miles from camp.

"This isn't good."

oooooooooo

More to come...

Authors note: I know it's been a while since I've posted anything so I figured I'd Post this. Gold Rush will detail Ranma's return to Japan, but I won't be rehashing the usual Ranma story line. Instead I'm going to try for something a little more original. Let me know what you think. I'm going to be touching on Monty, Ryoga, Ayane, and the Tendo girls. I also wanted to hit on certain other characters in this chapter, but after all this time, it was time to get this up, so it'll be in the next chapter.


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